


Three old loves

by oneshallop



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M, Viscount Varric, also featuring kirkwall's sanitation system
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:42:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29533557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneshallop/pseuds/oneshallop
Summary: Varric's three old loves: Hawke, Kirkwall, and Bianca
Relationships: Female Hawke/Varric Tethras
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17
Collections: Hightown Funk 2020





	Three old loves

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Her_Madjesty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Her_Madjesty/gifts).



Sometime during 620 Ancient, Magister Emerius Krayvan had ordered a matrix of tunnels be carved into the rock beneath Kirkwall. The city stood on a froth of stone. 

“That’s new,” said Hawke, nodding at the map before her.

Varric grunted. “We had the blue pox our third year into the restoration. Learned the importance of sanitation systems, let me tell you.”

Hawke leaned in closer to the blueprints. The sewers were constructed in great hexagonal waterways. Gravity would pull the odious contents down to an apex, which then rushed into a treatment plant. The entire system was marvelous. Ingenious, in fact. No need to ask who the engineer was.

Hawke marched over to peer over Varric’s shoulder. “What have you got there?”

“Oh, just some letters. Mostly financial matters that need to be settled. You know what they say: you can run, but you can’t hide,” Varric said, laughing, but he angled the letters away so Hawke couldn’t read them.

Hawke didn’t call him out on it. She made herself comfortable by his hearth, flicking at the mess with her boots.

Varric had a wide and varying circle of correspondence, but for him to pore over every word like that—only one person could have written that letter.

There were a number of responses that Hawke could’ve performed for him here. She could’ve been a responsible friend: _Varric, buddy, why do you do this to yourself?_ Or, perhaps, a sarcastic joker: _Letters? Something with a bit of bite, I hope._ Maker, she could’ve even pulled a rarity out of her hat and been honest with him.

Instead, Hawke held her tongue and watched Varric.

Nearly the first thing Varric did after meeting anyone was to show his crossbow around. Hawke had long accepted this—she’d never been the monogamous type anyway. If she sought a bit of company, she would simply hang up her cloak and disappear for the night. It was without question that she would hand over a thousand of these anonymous tumbles for her friend, but it had never occurred to her to include said friend in the tumbles until the day of the ambush.

Hawke leaned back on her hands and stared up at the ceiling. “Letters,” she said. “Great.”

“Actually, considering we’re already on the subject—do you mind if I talk some points off you?”

Hawke stared at Varric, but it appeared that her friend was completely in earnest.

Varric was a good liar, but she’d known him for a while now. She knew, for example, that he’d nearly knocked a glass out of the hands of a Comtesse while telling one of his tall tales. She also knew that in moments of true nervousness Varric would keep his thumbs completely still.

“It’s about credit held in wool markets across Rivain—” “Since when do you own anything in Rivain?” Hawke interrupted.

“It’s for a client,” Varric said patiently. “As I was about to tell you. Can I keep talking?”

Varric didn’t take clients. If Hawke had a pint in her hand, she would’ve taken a swig: _good job, Marian._ Of course, that meant that Varric would have taken the matter on for personal reasons, and so she probably would’ve drunk for that as well.

Hawke waved a hand at Varric graciously. Go on, continue.

“My client wants to pull out. I know why. There’s been talk that the major houses of Nevarra and Antiva are planning to set up a bill of exchange—cut out the middle-man, so to speak—but I reckon that it’ll be a good idea to hold on for a little while longer.”

“Uh huh,” said Hawke. Although she’d never met Bianca, she wanted to. By all accounts she was both a remarkable woman and a smith beyond compare. Hawke didn’t know much about dwarven politics, but she knew her friend, and she knew the influence this woman had on him.

Hawke wanted to ask Bianca: _do you know what you do to him?_ She wanted to ask her: _do you know what he means to me?_ Meanwhile, Varric continued his spiel, either unaware or uncaring of her lapse in attention.

“So, I was thinking that I might drop by Rinraver and check on the guilds there. It needs more of an in-person touch, you know? Some talk about the importance of the collaboration for both our houses. All the usual shit.”

“Yes,” said Hawke, who knew nothing about economics, let alone the affairs of entire nation states. “Bonds. Houses. All that shit.” She wondered where he was leading with this.

“It’s a dangerous journey, Kirkwall to Ostwick. I’m going to need someone to watch my back.”

That shit-eating grin of his. Like a bear trap snapping shut on your ankle while you were knee-deep in dog crap.

“Maker’s saggy ball-sack,” Hawke said in disgust. “What do you need me there for?”

“Moral support?” Varric suggested. “Good company? An unending litany of complaints about the skies, the earth, and everything in between?”

“You’re so full of shit.”

Varric grinned back at her. “You know you love me.”

Firelight flickered over the broad planes of his face, burning amber across his cheeks and nose and leaving hollows everywhere else. Hawke would’ve gladly given an arm and a leg for Varric, anytime and anywhere—but for all the roguish layers he laid on, Varric would never veer away from the most central foci of his life. Hawke knew in her heart of hearts that Bianca was one of them.

“Eh,” Hawke said. “Like I said. You’re so full of shit.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello o Her_Madjesty , my apologies - it's been a crazy time, and I definitely wanted to give you something that looked different to this... I hope you enjoy it regardless <3


End file.
